How to Silently Overclock with Air Cooling
Overclocking is a combination of gambling, engineering, and hardware hacking. There are many different approaches, and I've pretty much tried them all. I've done extreme air cooling, with something like 200 cubic feet per minute (CFM) rushing through my computer, I've done water-cooling in various forms, including my infamous four foot tall clear acrylic bong tower, and last year I gave it all up for silent cooling. With silence I backed off my heavy overclocks...
posted on 04.22.06
My office headphone setup - great sound while I work
This post is out of date: check out the updated gear here While my reference level audiophile headphone setup is at my home, I actually do most of my listening at work. Judging from my other audio setups you know I'm not going to settle for little Sony clip-ons at the office. Not only does great sound make the day more pleasant, it actually makes me more productive. My office has lots of open space,...
posted on 12.07.05
How to spend $2000 on a headphone setup (the saga continues)
This post is out of date: check out the updated gear here My audiophile headphone setup has blossomed into quite a beast lately! Here I'm going to lay out every piece from source to my ears to show you what's possible with high end audio. All the prices I list are retail, but I must say that since I scour the net for deals so I have managed to save loads of cash. I highly...
posted on 12.04.05
Upgrading the Marantz SR7200 Power Cord
I've closed comments on this post since it's been repeatedly hit by bots (just this post for some reason, weird). If you have any questions feel free to email me. The Marantz SR7200 is a very well regarded receiver and serves as the soul of the audio side of my home theater. It orignally retailed for about $850 in 2002 when it was released, and provides 105Wx6 surround sound - quite a bit of power!...
posted on 12.03.05
Grado HF-1 Special Edition Headphone Review
As a long time Sennheiser guy I was excited to try out the 'Grado' sound when the HF-1's were announced. It seemed like the perfect combination of value, forum support, limited edition-ness, and the fact that it was housed in wood was a huge plus. Here's how I tested them out: Sources NAD 505 CD Player EMU 0404 Amp Gilmore Dynalo (aka Gilmore Lite) Cables Custom EMU-0404 Breakout (20 awg silver plated copper soldered to...
posted on 10.04.05
Limited Edition Grado HF-1 Headphones
Just got a pair of limited edition, signed, and numbered Grado Labs HF-1 headphones with a WOOD driver housing. Wooden headphones are considered a big plus since wood is a superior driver housing material compared to plastic or most metals. It supposedly makes for a more natural sound. Mine are #83 of a limited run offered only to members of the Head-Fi forums - read more about the Grado HF-1 sale here. Grado Labs makes...
posted on 09.29.05
How to spend over $1000 dollars on headphones
Here's how I managed to get an audiophile quality setup for a relatively reasonable price. If you want REALLY great sounding music, read on. Please note that all prices are estimated at retail value. It all starts at the source, i.e. what you use to play your music. Since I use my computer as a source, I opted for a pro-sumer recording card, the EMU0404. This will run you about $100. See that cheap breakout...
posted on 08.30.05
Custom Sennheiser HD580, HD600, HD650 Headphone Cable
I construct high quality headphone cables for Sennhesier HD580 / HD600 / HD650 heaphones. This line of cables is called the 'Yellowjacket' - I really love the unique color I was able to achieve with the cable. If you are interested in a similar cable please contact me and I'll gladly give you a quote. This cable is a huge improvement over the stock Sennheiser cable. Through the use of high gauge silver plated military...
posted on 08.30.05
Build a custom EMU0404 analog breakout cable
How to build a custom EMU-0404 breakout cable for high end audio applications. If you own an EMU0404 and use it for audiophile listening, then it's pretty obvious the stock breakout cable is pretty weak. It's flimsy and of poor quality, and then you need a weird 1/4" to RCA to hook it up to your amp...no fun. So with a few parts I had lying around and $4.50 woth of extras from Radio Shack...
posted on 08.26.05